“…on the realities of heaven…”
Is your life super busy, feel your life is full, and that many things in your life are going well? Still, you sense that something is missing and that there could be more?
Many of us live with an awareness of purpose in our life, like loving our families, doing good for others, and making a difference through our vocation. But, if questioned, our purpose would be difficult to articulate, and we may feel like a genuine aim is missing.
I have felt this way on many occasions, but during my struggle with depression, I experienced these feelings the strongest. I suffer from Seasonal Attentive Disorder or seasonal depression. Every fall, I would slip into chemical depression, but I would slide out of the depression during the later Spring months. This hiatus from the darkness outside and inside was a deception of normalcy.
The duplicity had me in a false realism. Reality is defined in the Google Oxford dictionary as “the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.” The back-to-my-old-self summers lulled me into a partially engaged life.
We often live with our reality skewed as the subtleties of life creep in and disorient what once was and what could be. The result is living a lesser life riddled with condemnation that we should be happier; after all, we have this or that. Then a quiet voice slips under the locked door of the daily grind to whisper, “There is more.”
“More – what more?” We question and discount the quiet voice to move on with our life as it is. The book of James warns us, “But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” (James 1:25 NLT).
Is it that simple? Our freedom is tied to listening, action, and remembering what we heard? Listening is one thing, and doing is another, but the catalyst is remembering God’s Word. What have we failed to recall that has left us vulnerable to being lulled into a daily life that perceives there must be more?
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” (Colossians 3:1, NLT, bold added)
We often think of the hearing and doing from the verse in James to only mean actions we are not to do, like, “thou shall not kill.” When we do this, we miss the living and active aspects of the Word that are meant to intersect with our daily lives as this Colossians verse tells us to “set our sights on the realities of heaven.”
When we are immersed in the realities of our world, the everyday demands, routines, activities, and difficulties, we simply glide away from what we know of heaven to be true to living life on earth as it is.
There are a few heaven realities that would serve us well to remember and apply, filtering our earth’s situation through Heaven’s sieve.
3 Heaven Realities
- I have Risen to New Life. Like Christ, who rose from the dead, we have risen into a new life. Our old life of sin, walking in a lesser version of ourselves, and the pull toward the things that are not of God have been put to death. Our focus is now on our new life, our identities according to how Christ sees us, and we set our minds to think about where Christ is taking us.
Colossians 3:1 tells us that, “Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” We need to remember to leave our old thinking nailed to the wooden cross and dwell more on the stone that was rolled away. The freedom of an empty tomb. The possibilities of an ascended Savior. The power of the Holy Spirit is at work inside us because Christ walked the earth and died for our sins, but now, Christ intercedes on our behalf from heaven.
God, what are you doing? Give me eyes to see you at work. What do I need to know? Give me wisdom about my situation. What does your Word have to say about this?
If Christ has conquered death and intercedes on my behalf in heaven, my reality is….
- My New Life has a New Identity. Our lives are different, the cross is behind us, and the stone has been rolled away. What does this new life involve? Our new life includes a new identity – “and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self” (Colossians 3:10, AMP).
Our new identity needs renewal. We need to spend time knowing our Creator and asking Him what our heaven identity is and how we walk it out on earth.
God, who do you say that I am? My situation and other voices describe me differently. Give me the wisdom to live out who you say that I am. Help me know you more, grow in my knowledge of you so that my heaven identity is renewed daily.
If I have a new life in Christ with a unique identity that reflects the image of God, my reality is….
- The Word of Christ Feeds my New Identity. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16a, NRSV). The Word of God equips us to walk in the power of the risen Christ. His Word grows us in our knowledge of how we live out our God-given identity. We need to question the draw to avoid being in God’s word.
God’s word reminds us that we are already loved before we do one thing, that nothing can separate us from His love, and that He is waiting to pour out His love on us. Our identity feeds on God’s Word and grows stronger as we move beyond our knowledge and walk out on earth these realities of heaven. (Romans 5:8, 8:31-39; Isaiah 30:18-19)
God, grow my desire to be in your Word. Give me the wisdom to understand how your words apply to my life. Help me to believe the realities of heaven and act on this knowledge.
If I believe what God’s Word says about me and what His promises say about my situation, my reality is….
When we feel a little off or lost in the day-to-day, we need to question, from what vantage point are we viewing our life? Are we living from an earth truth or a heaven reality?
I pray that for the realities of heaven to become your realities. That you will grow in the knowledge of God and be able to discern when you are slipping away from His truth quickly. May you hear from God, who He says you are, walk in your God-given identity all the days of your life, and experience the fullness of living heaven’s realities. So be it, in Jesus’ name.
Meditate: I am new in Christ
Reflect: What is your current reality? Are you living from an earth truth or a heaven reality? How could you be deceived into thinking there is nothing off about how you view things? Which one of the three heaven realities do you need to spend more time with, and how will you do this?
Rooted: Isaiah 43:14-21; 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21; Colossians 3:1-17
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(Bible References: NRSV – New Revised Standard Version, NLT – New Living Translation, AMP – Amplified Version)
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